Observe and Report: Breaking New Ground in Inappropriateness
The new film starring Seth Rogen is willing to go anywhere for a laugh.
Ronnie is a racist who hates gays and treats his rent-a-cop job as though he were in the Special Forces in Vietnam. He calls a brown-skinned guy who works in the mall “Saddam Hussein of Iraq” and charges him with trying to blow up the Chick-Fil-A. The guy responds, “Why the f— would I want to blow up the Chick-Fil-A? It’s f—ing delicious!”
When a flasher pops up and starts bothering women in the mall parking lot, Ronnie goes on TV to promise, “I will murder you.” Things seem to be going Ronnie’s way, though, when the flasher accosts the perfume-counter girl (Anna Faris) he has a crush on. A local detective (Ray Liotta) tries to reassure the shaken girl, but Ronnie tells her the flasher is likely to come back and kill her. He also tells the real cop to back away from his case: “I’m a cook and I’m servin’ up justice.”
Writer-director Jody Hill and his cast are willing to go anywhere for a laugh. Hill’s previous work includes the indie comedy The Foot Fist Way (dark), the HBO series East Bound and Down (quite dark) and now this movie (black hole). Though the movie is probably twice as violent as it needs to be and the story is hardly credible (it’s hard to believe any mall would employ such a freak), comedy has to keep pushing out into new boundaries and break new ground in inappropriateness.
Ronnie’s anger is out of control. For example, a police department psychiatric exam goes awry when Ronnie confesses he wants a badge because he wants to blow away a lot of people. But anger, even the really scary kind, has an element of absurdity to it that Hill and Rogen are able to tap into, which helps make the lead character a tiny bit sympathetic.
Rogen is still developing as an actor, but he is more than capable in a part worthy of someone as accomplished as Philip Seymour Hoffman. It requires Rogen to bring across some reason for us to hope his mall stint doesn’t end in total humiliation, and he largely succeeds. He makes us root for him, for instance, when the Liotta character leaves him in a neighborhood full of drug dealers and Ronnie is forced to fight his way out.
Observe and Report is such an unclassifiable, hard-to-market oddity that it’s bound to flop. But it’s also a milestone for two exciting young talents — its writer-director and its star.
Observe and Report
Directed by Jody Hill
Starring: Seth Rogen, Ray Liotta, Anna Faris
3 stars/ 4
86 minutes/Rated R
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Kyle Smith is a film critic for the the New York Post. His website is at www.kylesmithonline.com.
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5 Comments
1. Rawsnacks:With few exceptions, movies ought to be 88 minutes long. This one comes close.
Apr 10, 2009 - 8:37 am 2. Sebastian Shaw:Toilet humor only works when used in small doses; repeated usage implies a weak script &/ director &/or actors.
Apr 10, 2009 - 12:56 pm 3. Mark in Texas:It’s got Seth Rogen. I’m going to go see it.
Apr 11, 2009 - 1:24 pm 4. Peg C.:I don’t get Seth Rogan at all. “Knocked Up” was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen in my life. Skipping this one.
Apr 13, 2009 - 3:42 am 5. TalkinKamel:Thanks for reminding me why I rarely go see movies these days. I think I’ll continue to avoid them.
Apr 13, 2009 - 7:13 am